Automobile door hinge



NOV 23, 1954 JOHNSON ET AL AUTOMOBILE DOOR HINGE Filed July 9, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet l 1954 A. JOHNSON ETAL AUTOMOBILE DOOR HINGE Filed July 9, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 NOV 23, 1954 A JOHNSQN ETAL 2fififi2$ AUTOMOBILE DOOR HINGE Filed July 9, 1949 3 Sheefis-Sheet 3 AUTOMOBILE DOOR HINGE Agnar Johnson, Lyle C. Atwood, and Warren J. Kush, Rockford, IlL, assignors to Atwood Vacuum Machine Company, Rockford, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application July 9, 1949, Serial N 0. 103,906

9 Claims. (Cl. 16-140) This invention relates to improvements in automobile door hinges, and is more particularly concerned with the provision of a novel form of hold-open device de signed to prevent accidental closing of the door once it has been fully opened.

Various designs of hold-open devices have been proposed, but many are too complicated and expensive in construction and also are not practical for various reasons. It is, therefore, the principal object of our invention to provide a hold-open device of simpler and less expensive construction, and one which, due to the small amount of movemnt of its only movable part and, consequently, the negligible wear to which it is apt to be subjected, is certain to give satisfactory performance throughout the lift of the car without its ever being apt to require any attention.

In accordance with our invention, an arm, which may be punched from sheet metal at low cost, its pivotally mounted on a rivet on one of the horizontal walls of the sheet metal cage of a concealed hinge, and has a longitudinally extending slot provided therein, arranged to receive the projecting end portion of a pin mounted in the edge portion of the gooseneck-shaped inner member of the hinge, so that the arm is oscillated in a certain predetermined relationship to the opening of the door, the aforesaid rivet having a cupped spring washer compressed under the head thereof, so as to exert a predetermined frictional drag on the pivotal movement of the arm and accordingly resist the closing of the door when 'fully opened and thereby prevent accidental closing. The slot in the arm is so formed and related to the projecting pin that there will be substantially no frictional drag imposed on the freedom of movement of the door throughout the major portion of the opening movement, but only through the final 15 or so of opening movement, in which angular range the door will be held open quite securely at any point, thus avoiding the necessity for the motorist to take the trouble to move the door to a single predetermined position at which the hold-open means is effective.

Having in mind the fact that automobile bodies with their doors mounted on hinges are subjected to prolonged heat in ovens in the drying and baking of their exterior finishes after the bodies are sprayed, it is another object of our invention to provide a hinge with hold-open means designed so as to pocket semi-hard, plastic, heat resistant lubricant in sufiicient amounts and so well shielded and distributed circumferentially in relation to the rubbing surfaces of the friction drag elements that only a small amount of this lubricant will be lost by vaporization as a result of the heat in the ovens, and enough lubricant will be left to provide that small amount of lubrication needed to prevent premature wearing out and consequent failure of the friction drag elements further to perform their intended function, the rivet of this friction drag construction being also preferably provided with an oil hole in the top, so that after the finish has been applied and baked on, and periodically thereafter, a few drops of oil can easily be supplied from an oil can to lubricate the pivotal bearing for the oscillating arm element and reduce the wear at that point to a minimum, the arrangement of this oil hole with reference to the aforesaid circumferentially spaced holes for the plastic lubricant being such that any surplus oil overflowing onto the top surface of the arm will find its way into those holes and thus help, to some extent, to lubricate the rubbing surfaces of the friction drag elements and to replace some of the oil dried out of the plastic lubricant in the baking oven.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. l is a plan view of an automobile door hinge embodying a hold-open device made in accordance with our invention, the gooseneck-shaped inner hinge member being shown in a position corresponding to the fully opened position of the door;

Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1 better illustrating the construction;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the parts in the other extreme position, corresponding to the closed position of the door;

Fig. 4 is a side view of Fig. 3, showing the cupped spring washer in section;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section through another hinge of the kind shown in Figs. l-4, taken approximately in the plane of the line A-A of Fig. 2, but showing another form of hold-open device made in accordance with our invention, designed to permit packing the same with plastic lubricant as described and also permit oiling, the inner member being shown in full lines in open position and in dotted lines in closed position;

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional detail on the broken line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is an isolated top view of the oscillating arm of Figs. 5 and 6, showing the circumferentially spaced holes provided therein for the packing of plastic lubricant;

Figs. 8 and 9 are isolated top and side views of the cupped spring washer, and

Figs. 10 and 11 are similar views of the rivet.

Similar reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring to Figs. l-4, the automobile door hinge shown is of the well known concealed type, similar, for example, to that shown in the Harmon et al., Patent 2,322,933, issued June 29, 1943. It comprises an outer sheet metal cage member 5 adapted to be mounted by means of its attaching flanges 6 and attaching plate 7 on the door pillar on the body, and a gooseneck-shaped inner member 8 mounted on the door by means of its attaching end portion 9. The outer cage member 5 is formed from sheet metal to a generally U-shaped crosssection so as to provide opposed substantially parallel horizontally extending walls 10 and 11, connected by a substantially vertical wall 12. The horizontal walls 10 and 11. have embossed portions 13 forming supports for the pintle 14, which is received in a bearing hole 15 provided therefor in the enlarged end portion 16 of the inner hinge member 8. The face plate 7 previously mentioned is suitably welded to the attaching flange portions 6 and is cut away, as indicated at 17, to provide operating clearance for the inner hinge member 8. Lugs 18 are shown projecting toward one another from the edges of the top and bottom walls 10 and 11 of the outer hinge member, and these lugs are welded to the web portion of a sheet metal channel member 19, which serves as a limit stop arranged to be engaged by the inner hinge member 8 at the limit of the door opening movement, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

In accordance with our invention, an arm 20, which can be punched from sheet metal at low cost, but is preferably hardened by heat treatment to reduce wear to a minimum, is disposed in the space between the bottom wall 11 of the outer hinge member 5 and the bottom edge of the inner hinge member 8 in abutment with the flat top face 11a of the wall 11, as clearly appears in Figs. 2 and 4, and pivoted at one end on a rivet 21 entered through registering holes 22 and 23 provided in the arm 20 and bottom wall 11 of the outer hinge member 5, respectively, a cupped and centrally perforated springwasher 24 being assembled on the projecting outer end portion of the rivet and retained under a predetermined compression by the upset head 25 on that end of the rivet. The rivet 21 has a fairly close working fit in the holes 22 and 23 and the spring washer 24 exerts a suflicient pull downwardly on the rivet 21, so that the radially enlarged fiat head 26 on the upper end of the rivet, which is suitably receivedin a recess Patented Nov. 23, 1954 27 provided therefor in the pivoted end of the arm 20, will hold the arm 20 in close frictional contact with the surface 11a on wall 11, and thereby provide the desired amount of frictional drag on the oscillation of the arm 20, s'ufiicient to prevent closing of the automobile door when it has been fully opened. There is a pin and slot, lost motion, operating connection between the arm 20 and the inner hinge member 8, of which the pin 28 is provided on the inner hinge member 8 and the slot 29 is provided in the arm 20 extending substantially radially inwardly from the outer end thereof. The pin 28 is driven into a hole 30 provided therefor in the inner hinge member 8 at a predetermined radius from the pintle bearing hole 15. The one side 31 of the slot 29 is struck on an arc of appreciable radius, as clearly appears in Fig. 3, so that the inner hinge member 8 may swing with substantially no resistance from the hold-open device through the angle a (approximately 45) indicated in Fig. 3 in the opening of the door, the full frictional drag afforded by arm 20 and spring 24 being utilized only in the final portion of the door opening movement, namely through the angle b (approximately 15) indicated in Figs. 1 and 3. The other side 32 of the slot 29 is straight and almost parallel to the radial line from pintle 14 through the center of pin 28 in the fully opened position of the door, as shown in Fig. 1, so that any movement of pin 28 in a counterclockwise direction through even a very small angle will cause clockwise movement of the arm 20 through a much greater angle, the pin 28 in the open position of the hinge being much closer to rivet 21 than to pintle 14. Accordingly the frictional drag will be immediately effective to resist any movement of the inner hinge member 8 in the direction of closing the door, thereby preventing accidental closing.

In operation, when the door is being opened, pin 28 enters slot 29 and does not transmit any oscillatory movement to the arm 20 through the first approximately 45 of door opening movement, indicated by angle a in Fig. 3. This is due to the shape of slot 29 and, of course, the angularity in which the arm 26 is left after the previous door closing movement. Throughout the final approximately 15 of door opening movement, indicated by the angle b in Figs. 1 and 3, the frictional drag exerted by the cupped spring washer 24 resisting oscillation of arm 20 is effective, so that the door opening movement is cushioned and the hinges are not subjected to nearly as much shock and jar as would otherwise be the case when the door is thrown open violently. At the limit of door opening movement, the inner hinge member 8 strikes the stop 19 at substantially the same instant that arm 20 strikes the lower lug projection 18 on the cage member 5. See Fig. 1. Accidental closing of the door is prevented because the same frictional drag that was effective throughout the final 15 or so of door opening movement is effective throughout the same angularity in the closing movement. It should be clear that even though the door may not be swung fully open, the hold-open device will nevertheless function properly, because it is effective throughout the angle b of door closing movement but to a varying degree, the hold-open device exerting the maximum hold-open effect when the hinge is in the extreme open position shown in Fig. l, at which point the hold-open action is in a direction substantially at right angles to the inner end portion of the inner hinge member 8. In the first fifteen degrees or so of door closing movement, the pin 28 sliding along the side 32 of slot 29 swings the arm 20 into a less and less favorable position from the standpoint of its exerting a hold-open effect, and, of course, the hold-open effect is of zero value past the first fifteen degrees or so of door closing movement. The motorist, therefore, does not have to be careful to open the door to some precise position in order to have the benefit of the hold-open device. There is no danger of the arm 20 swinging past its proper terminal position, shown in Fig. 3, in the closing of the door, due to the friction drag mentioned, but, of course, a positive stop, like the lug 45 in Figs. and 7, may, if desired, be provided to prevent such further movement beyond a point where the widened outer end of slot 29 will admit the pin 28 in the door opening movement. The small angularity of oscillation of arm 20 plus the fact that a spring washer 24 of appreciable diameter exerts only a yielding pressure and that a rivet head 26 of appreciable Lil) diameter can be used, plus the further fact that the arm is of appreciable area and has contact throughout its bottom face with the top face 11a of wall 11, so as to reduce the unit bearing pressure to a minimum, all contribute toward making the wear on the parts negligible, so that the hold-open device will easily last as long as the rest of the automobile, especially if it is lubricated periodically.

Referring to Figs. 5 and 6, in which hinge parts corresponding to hinge parts in Figs. l-4 have been numbered correspondingly with prime numerals, the arm 20', rivet 21', cupped spring washer 24', and pin 28' correspond generally, both in form and function, to the ram 20, rivet 21, washer 24, and pin 28 of the holdopen device shown in Figs. 1-4. However, it will be seen that the arm 20' has a plurality of circumferentially spaced holes 33 provided therein around the bearing hole 34, and that the holes 33 are filled with a semihard, plastic, heat resistant lubricant 35 to lubricate the top and bottom surfaces of the arm. The bottom 11' of the cage 5' has an embossed pad portion 36, on top of which the perforated pivotal end of arm 20' has rubbing contact, and this pad portion is accordingly lubricated by lubricant 35. The cupped spring washer 24 has a fiat annular rim portion 37, which has rubbing contact on top of the arm 20 in the vicinity of the holes 33, so as to be lubricated also by the lubricant 35. Washer 24' has a square hole 38, which fits snugly on the square portion 39 of the shank of rivet 21 directly below the head 40, so that the washer is held positively against turning and cooperates the same as the embossed pad portion 36 of the cage 5' in imposing a friction drag on the oscillation of arm 20. The reduced end portion 41 of the rivet shank has a tight fit in a hole 42 in the embossed portion 36 of the cage, and the projecting portion is upset, as at 43, to fasten the rivet in place, with the cupped spring washer 24' compressed to a predetermined extent, sufiicient to set up a predetermined frictional drag on the oscillation of arm 20', similarly as in the other construction of Figs. l-4. A longitudinally extending oil hole 44 provided in one side portion of the head end of rivet 21' communicates with hole 34 in arm 20 to permit oiling of this bearing after the car body has been through the oven for drying and setting of its finish, and this hole also permits periodreally lubricating the hold-open device when the car is in service. Some oil in these oilings overflows onto the top of the arm 20 and finds its way into holes 33, whereby to lubricate the top and bottom surfaces of the arm 20' and replace some of the oil dried out of lubricant 35 to improve its lubricating characteristics.

This hold-open device operates substantially the same as that shown in Figs. l-4. A lug 45 provided on the pivotal end of arm 20' is arranged to strike lug 18' to l1m1t the clockwise movement of the arm in the event the friction drag, due to excessive wear on the rubbing parts, should no longer be as effective as before, whereby to avoid having the arm 20' reach a position where it might interfere with the swinging of the door. Should this lug 45 strike lug 18', the slot 29 is assured of being n the proper position to receive pin 28' when the door is swung open. At the limit of door opening movement, arm 8' strikes stop 19', and arm 20 strikes lug 18' and embossed portion 13' on the cage.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of our invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

We claim:

1. In a hinge comprising a generally U-shaped outer member providing spaced substantially parallel arms, and an inner member disposed between said arms having opposed substantially parallel longitudinal edges disposed in spaced substantially parallel relation to said arms, said inner member being pivoted on a pintle disposed in approximately ninety degree relation to and supported at its opposite ends on the arms of the U-shaped outer member, the improvement consisting in the provision of an elongated arm disposed in the space between one longitudinal edge of the inner hinge member and an adjacent arm of the outer hinge member in close frictional sliding abutment with the inside surface of the latter and approximately parallel to the edge of the inner hinge member and pivoted at one end on said outer hinge member at a point spaced radially from the hinge pintle, means resiliently urging said elongated arm into tight frictional engagement with the inside surface of the arm of said outer hinge member, said elongated arm having a slot provided therein extending longitudinally thereof and opening to the outer end thereof, and a pin projection on the adjacent edge of the inner hinge member movable in said slot and into and out of the outer end thereof so as to oscillate said elongated arm in a predetermined relationship to the opening and closing of the hinge members and permit a certain range of opening and closing movement of the hinge members independently of said elongated arm.

2. In a hinge comprising a generally U-shaped outer member providing spaced substantially parallel arms, and an inner member disposed between said arms having opposed substantially parallel longitudinal edges disposed in spaced substantially parallel relation to said arms, said inner member being pivoted on a pintle dis posed in approximately ninety degree (90) relation to and supported at its opposite ends on the arms of the Ushaped outer member, the improvement consisting in the provision of an elongated arm disposed approximately parallel to one arm of the outer hinge member and the adjacent edge of the inner hinge member and pivoted at one end on one of said members on a high friction bearing spaced radially from and independent of said pintle resisting oscillation of said elongated arm, said elongated arm having a slot provided therein extending longitudinally thereof and opening to the outer end thereof, and a pin projection on the other hinge member movable in said slot and into and out of the outer end thereof so as to oscillate said elongated arm only in a fraction of the relative pivotal movement of the hinge members and in a predetermined relationship to the opening and closing of the hinge members.

3. In a hinge comprising a pair of hinge members pivoted relative to one another, the improvement consisting in the provision of an elongated arm pivoted at one end with heavy friction on one of said members radially from the hinge axis, said arm having a slot provided therein extending longitudinally thereof opening to the outer end of said arm, and a pin projection on the adjacent edge of the other hinge member movable in said slot and into and out of the outer end thereof so as to oscillate said arm only in a fraction of the relative pivotal movement of the hinge members and in a predetermined relationship to the opening and closing of the hinge members.

4. In a hinge comprising a pair of hinge members pivoted relative to one another, the improvement consisting in the provision of an elongated arm pivoted at one end on one of said members radially from the hinge axis and slidable frictionally in surface to surface abutment with a surface on said hinge member, a pivotal supporting element for said arm fixed on said last-mentioned hinge member, a cupped spring washer of enlarged radius carried on said pivotal element compressed into tight engagement circumferentially With said arm, and means providing a lost-motion operating connection between said arm and the other hinge member so as to oscillate said arm in a predetermined relationship to the opening and closing of the hinge members, said arm having at least one hole provided therethrough in radially spaced relation to said pivotal element and within the radius of the spring washer in which a solid lubricant is adapted to be stored for lubrication of the opposite faces of said arm rubbing on the supporting hinge member and washer, respectively.

5. A hinge as set forth in claim 4 wherein said pivotal element holds said washer against rotation and wherein said pivotal element is substantially vertically disposed and has an oiling hole provided in the top portion thereof communicating both with the top surface of said arm in the vicinity of the lubricant containing hole and with a bearing hole provided in said arm for reception of said pivotal element.

6. A hinge as set forth in claim 4 wherein said pivotal element is substantially vertically disposed and has an oiling hole provided in the top portion thereof communicating both with the top surface of said arm in the vicinity of the lubricant containing hole and with a bearing hole provided in said arm for reception of. said pivotal element.

7. In a hinge comprising a pair of hinge members pivoted relative to one another, the improvement consisting in the provision of an elongated arm pivoted at one end with heavy friction on one of said members radially from the hinge axis, said arm having a slot provided therein longitudinally thereof opening to the outer end of said arm, a pin projection on the adjacent edge of the other hinge member movable in said slot and into and out of the outer end thereof so as to oscillate said arm only in a fraction of the relative pivotal movement of the hinge members and in a predetermined relationship to the opening and closing of the hinge members, and stop means positively limiting oscillation of said arm relative to the hinge member on which it is carried.

8. In a hinge comprising a generally U-shaped outer member providing spaced susbtantially parallel arms, and an inner member disposed between said arms having opposed substantially parallel longitudinal edges disposed in spaced substantially parallel relation to said arms, said inner member being pivoted on a pintle disposed in approximately ninety degree (90) relation to and supported at its opposite ends on the arms of the U-shaped outer member, the improvement consisting in the provision of an elongated arm having a flat face of appreciable length and width and disposed in the space between one longitudinal edge of the inner hinge member and an adjacent arm of the outer hinge member in close frictional sliding abutment with the inside surface of the latter throughout the major portion of the area of the flat face thereof, said arm being disposed approximately parallel to the edge of the inner hinge member and pivoted at one end on said outer hinge member at a point spaced radially from the hinge pintle, means resiliently urging said elongated arm into tight frictional engagement with the inside surface of the arm of said outer hinge member, and means providing a lost-motion operating connection between said elongated arm and the inner hinge member so as to oscillate said elongated arm While the said connection is effective to transmit such movement in a predetermined relationship to the opening and closing of the hinge members and permit a certain range of opening and closing movement of the hinge members inde pendently of said elongated arm in the lost-motion provided for in said connection.

9. In a hinge comprising a pair of hinge members pivoted relative to one another, the improvement consisting in the provision of an elongated arm having a fiat face of appreciable length and width and pivoted at one end on one of said members radially from the hinge axis and slidable frictionally in surface to surface abutment throughout the major portion of the area of said flat face with a surface on said hinge member, means resiliently urging said arm into close frictional contact with said last-mentioned hinge member, said arm having a slot provided therein longitudinally thereof opening to the outer end of said arm, and a pin projection on the adjacent edge of the other hinge member movable in said slot and into and out of the outer end thereof so as to oscillate said arm only in a fraction of the relative pivotal movement of the hinge members and in a predetermined relationship to the opening and closing of the hinge members and permit a certain range of opening and closing movement of the hinge members independently of said elongated, arm.

References (Iited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,762,489 Stinson June 10, 1930 2,259,821 Johnson Oct. 21, 1941 2,343,810 Schonitzer Mar. 7, 1944 2,553,185 Gessler May 15, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 580,125 Great Britain Aug. 28, 1946 

